Top 13 of 2013

                                                                         

     Well it is that time of year, the time when all of us movie critics tell you what out favorite movies of the year are. 2013 was a great year for cinema. There were so many great movies this year it was hard to narrow it down to my favorite thirteen. I think your favorite movies should be ones that resonate with you on a personal level. Now don’t get me wrong a good movie is a good movie, but sometimes a movie comes out of nowhere that you just connect with personally.  So with out of the over 176 movie I saw this year, here are (drum roll) my top thirteen for 2013:

  13.  Blue Jasmine:  Every year you can expect a Woody Allen movie to hit the theaters, and most years you will find that movie on someone’s top ten list. “Blue Jasmine” is no different, Cate Blanchett is memorizing as well as everyone else in this film. Woody seems to be like a fine wine and just gets better with age.

12. The World’s End: There is just something magical when Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg get together. The final piece in the Cornetto trilogy, tells the tale of Gary King (Simon Pegg) and his group of friends trying to complete a pub run that that failed to do as young lads. Nothing can stop their quest, even if the town is overrun with something that is not entirely human.

11. What Massie Knew: This is one of those films that just sticks with you. This is a story about Massie (Onata Aprile) who is caught in the middle of her parents’ divorce. I dare you to watch this one and not feel something.

10. Captain Phillips:  Based on a true story of a 2008 hijacking of a freighter by Somali Pirates. There is nothing better than real life, and to top it off you have great performances by Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. The final thirty minutes of this movie may be the best thirty minutes you’ll see on screen all year.

9. Fruitvale Station: Another film based on a true story. This one tells the tale of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan) and his faithful date with destiny on the last day of 2008. This is the kind of performance that announces to the world that there is more than one man with talent with the name Michael Jordan.

8. The Spectacular Now: A great coming of age story that feels more like someone you knew than a movie.  Not only is the story amazing, the film also shows us two actors in Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley who are two greats in the making.

7. Philomena: Another true story about a woman named Philomena (Judi Dench) and her search for a son taken away from her when she was younger. Like the above films based on true stories, this one again proves that there is no story like a true story.

6. Francis Ha:  The story of a girl named Francis (Greta Gerwig) who only knows how to follow her dreams. A film written by Noah Baumbach and the above motioned Greta Gerwig. “Francis Ha” is just about an enjoyable movie you will see any year.

5. The Wolf of Wallstreet:  It feels strange not having a Martin Scorsese film in my top three, but that is how good a year in movies it was. The perfect tale of greed and the roller coaster we call life. I would say it is a cautionary tale, but it is hard to believe given the same situation how any of us could say no.

4. 12 Years a Slave: Movies should remind us of the mistakes we made in the past. “12 Years a Slave” is the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his twelve years as a slave after being  taken against his will. A moving story and performances you won’t soon forget make this one of the best movies of the year.

3. Before Midnight: The final chapter in Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ series. We catch up with Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) almost two decades after their meeting on a train to Vienna. You will find it very difficult to find a better story about love and relationships than what you will see in this film series.

2. Inside Llewyn Davis: Like Woody Allen, anytime the Coen Brothers release a film it usually is on a ‘best of’ list. This story about a young singer navigating Greenwich Village’s folk scene of the early 1960’s is no exception. With great music and the Coen Brothers style, this is one film that gets better with each viewing.

1. Short Term 12:  This is the one movie all year that just left me speechless after watching it. It’s the story of a foster care facility and the twenty something staff supervising it. This movie will grab your attention and keep it long after the credits have rolled. For me this is why I go to the movies, and this is a movie everyone should see.

 

  Those are my favorite movies of 2013. Although there are still a few movies I need to see that would probably make this list, of everything I have seen to this point, they are the cream of the crop. So now that another year is in the books, I’m looking forward to another year at the movies.

Brian Taylor

The Wolf of Wall Street

                                                                       

         If there was such a thing as “movie royalty” the list of the people on it would be very short. It would have names like Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, and of course Scorsese. Two of those men would be considered just on their past contributions, almost like a life time achievement award. Meanwhile the other two are still making movies as good and as important as the day they started. With so many greats how do you choose who to crown the King? Well if I had a vote, which wouldn't even matter because this is a monarchy we are talking about, I would choose Martin Scorsese. Not only is he a fantastic film maker, but film is his greatest love, and it shows in everything he touches. It is easy to look forward to a Scorsese film, because you know that you are getting a great piece of art, and you always find yourself waiting to see what future masterpiece he is working on next.

    Well his next piece of work may not be a masterpiece, but it is pretty damn good. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a film about, wait for it, Wall Street. And the ‘Wolf’ sadly is just a man named Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and we see his rise from poverty to being rich beyond words. Jordan, though didn't get his money by hard work, he got it from the money earned from other’s hard work. So with the help of his best friend Donny (Jonah Hill) he works the system, and gets filthy rich. Based on the actual life of Jordan Belfort, we get a look into the life a Wall Street Broker, before everything came crashing down. It’s a story about money, drugs, sex, and a whole lot more money.

    When it comes to Scorsese and his films, he seems to have a muse. For years that muse was Robert De Niro, who was in everything Scorsese made until he found his new muse in DiCaprio, and the one thing you can say, he has an eye for talent. The relationship is mutual though, because both De Niro and DiCaprio have both gotten plenty of attention for the work they do. With Scorsese’s and DiCaprio’s latest effort, there is a pretty good chance that will continue. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a great movie, for about two and a half hours of its run time, but seems to fall off for the last thirty minutes.  So if you are good at math that adds up to twenty-five percent of the film that you don’t feel. Working from a script from Terence Winter, Scorsese keeps the pace moving pretty fast and sharp, only to stumble towards the end.  Thankfully the performances do not, both DiCaprio and Hill are magnificent and both will get attention come award season.

Film making is an art, and like any field it has its masters, and well Scorsese is a master of his craft. Just like Picasso didn't always paint masterpieces, Scorsese can’t always make perfect films. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is not a masterpiece, but it is not that far off, and a movie you should definitely put it on your ‘must see’ this holiday season.

Brian Taylor 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Every year when the top ten lists flood the internet, inevitably there are the same few films that wind up on most of the lists.  They are deemed the “best” of the year, and when I do get around to seeing them all, I’m usually inclined to agree.  Good is good, and great is great, but I find there is a difference between the film I think is the best and the one film of the year that was my favorite.  I find it’s the one film that I can watch over and over again, and more importantly it’s the film I can connect to on an emotional level.  This has been the same for me in years past, in 1999 “American Beauty” was the best film of that year, but “Fight Club” was my favorite.  Last year “Argo” was the best, but “The Avengers” is the one I watch over and over with and without my kids.  I’m not sure what the best film will be this year, but I did find my favorite in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.

Directed and starring Ben Stiller as the title character, Walter is a consummate daydreamer, his fantasies are so vivid and he is pulled into his own head so deep that he zones out to everyone around him.  He is an average run-of-the-mill, slightly dull man who works in the negative assets department of the soon to be shut down Life magazine.  Walter fantasizes about telling off the office bullies and introducing himself to the girl of his dreams in the grandest of ways. That is until he is pulled into reality when he has to retrieve a photo negative from obscure, eccentric and ever elusive photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn).  His real life expedition takes him to different parts of the world doing things he’s only imagined.

Stiller captures something magical here, not so much in his portrayal of Walter, but the world he inhabits, both in this head and outside of it.  His treatment of the character is one he’s played before, just a simple guy turned down a few notches on the emotional ladder.  Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) is Cheryl, the object of Mitty’s affection, and much like Stiller, Wiig plays her very vanilla.  Which I’m sure was done by design, she is likeable, but not adorable, and only truly stands out when she’s in Walter’s mind.  Penn as the mysterious O’Connell is a bit underused, but maybe it’s because he owns his entire time on screen.  The other characters all add something to the story whether it’s the subdued performance by Shirley MacLaine as Walter’s mother or the overly goofy, yet hilarious Adam Scott in an equally funny beard.

What makes “Mitty” special is the same as what people say about life, that it’s all about the journey.  There are some beautiful images captured on film, and not so surprisingly they are the grand shots of nature.  The sun, the ocean, and the sky.  The CGI moments are just that, computer generated.  While some are real fun to see in a “Family Guy” and “Looney Tunes” kind of way, nothing compares to images of Stiller racing down an empty road on a longboard, or taking a helicopter ride, or something as unassuming as a dirt-paved soccer game at sundown.  There is predictability throughout the film, but it doesn’t take away the pleasure you get from seeing it all play out on the big screen accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack.

Sometimes you’re just in the mood to see certain films, that’s what makes reviewing them so subjective.  You bring your own life experiences with you into the movie auditorium, and your sensibilities influence your enjoyment of a particular piece of cinema.  I was ready to see a film like this one, its rated PG and it deserves to be.  Everyone should see “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, you will not find another film this year that is so incredibly filled with fun, fantasy, and most of all…hope.

--Robert L. Castillo

Inside Llewyn Davis

                                                             

                Sometimes when you are with your friends you will go into those ‘what if’ scenarios.  You know things like what if you found a million dollars, or what if you only had one week to live?  I always remember someone asking me what would be the one thing you would grab if your house was on fire.  Well I want to change that question to this: if you could only choose one filmmaker to always make movies, which would you, choose?  How do you decide, when there are so many great filmmakers?  Well my choice would be the Coen Brothers. Now I know what you are thinking, I said one filmmaker, and my answer happen to be brothers, but my response to that would be, when they direct and write their films they are like one incredible creative force.

               I choose the Coen’s because they march to their own drummer and tell stories that always seem special, and memorable. They don’t make movies that exist in the normal world; instead they invite you into their world. Now in the Coen’s world there tends to be a lot of anger, but with that anger you also get passion and the most unique kind of humor as well. In their new film “Inside Llewyn Davis”, they tell a story about a young folk singer trying to navigate Greenwich Village in 1961.  That singer’s name is Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), and if you couldn’t guess by the name the story is about him. Llewyn is trying to cope with being on his own after his musical partner jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Although extremely talented things just don’t seem to go right for Llewyn, and it is mostly his fault. You see Llewyn does not have the best attitude and always relies on the generosity of others to survive. It could be crashing with his friend’s girlfriend Jean (Carey Mulligan) or getting work with Jim (Justin Timberklake) to help pay his debts. No matter how bad his life can get though, Llewyn can always escape into his music.

          I know why I love a Coen Brother’s movie; to me it is just like comfort food. As in comfort food, you know what you are getting; you will get great characters, a great story, and a little added “Coeness” that makes their stories so special. While their movies have those central elements in common, their stories and themes are never the same. With “Inside Llewyn Davis” everything is there and as with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” we get a great soundtrack to boot. Oscar Isaac is brilliant as Llewyn Davis, who learned to play guitar for this role. In fact all of the musical scenes where actually recorded live during filming for an authentic sound. Everyone has a favorite Coen movie, because no two seem to ever be alike. The only thing they have in common is they are always seem to be one of the better movies of that year, and with “Inside Llewyn Davis” that trend remains.

 Brian Taylor

American Hustle

                                                       

        There is something about the con game that Hollywood is in love with. It is simple really, they make great stories, they are extremely entertaining, and let’s face it, who doesn’t like seeing the rich get ripped-off?  I think that love affair began with a little film called “The Hustler” in 1961. Since then it has only grown with films like “The Sting”, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Catch Me if You Can”. As you can tell a lot of great movies involve a story about the confidence game, and it looks like that streak continues. “American Hustle” is a story very loosely based on a FBI investigation from the seventies called Abscam. As interesting as the real story is, this film version might be even better.

       Irving (Christian Bale) is a small time hustler with his hand in a few things. Everything really gets going when he meets Sydney (Amy Adams) who gives his confidence game some class. The money starts to flow in, which gets the attention on Richie Dimaso (Bradley Cooper), a young FBI agent who is looking to make a name for himself. Facing jail time Irving and Sydney go to work for Dimaso to help him land the big fishes that he really wants to catch. They start with a young and charismatic mayor named Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who is trying to rebuild Atlantic City. With Polito as the bait Dimaso wants to take down everyone who he believes is “ruining” this country. What follows is the perfect story of what can happen when you don’t know when to stop.

       There is no secret about what this movie is about, it is right there in the title. “American Hustle”, which is directed by the always great David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), who also co-wrote the script with Eric Singer, is the real deal. They always say that imitation is the best form of flattery, and Russell has done just that with this film. “American Hustle” feels very much like Scorsese’s classics “Goodfellas “and “Casino”, but also very original. It’s like David O. Russell doing his kind of Scorsese film, and boy did it turn out right. As great as the story is, in which you won’t find many better this year, the biggest selling point, which you can tell from the trailers is the acting. Everyone is amazing in it, with performances that seem to one up each other as the film progresses. As good as everyone is, Jennifer Lawrence continues to show why she is one of the top actors out there.

This is a prime example of why we go to the movies, great story, amazing performances, and a soundtrack that is heaven to your ears. Every year the holidays bring so many good choices at the movie theater, and it can be hard to choose what to see. Well let me save you the trouble, go see “American Hustle”, because in the season of giving, this is one movie that knows how to give.

Brian Taylor

Saving Mr. Banks

                                                             
                                                               

       If you were ever a kid, you have probably seen “Mary Poppins” at least once or more likely one thousand times.  It is one of those movies that captured your imagination as a kid. Before Disney got a hold of it and put it through a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious prism.  “Mary Poppins” was a set of popular children’s novels written by P.L. Travers. For what effect the movie had on so many generations, the novels had done the same for so many kids before that. “Saving Mr. Banks” is the story of those two worlds coming together and how a lady with an umbrella changed the lives of so many children.

      As a writer it is easy to write about something that you have experienced firsthand. You may change the names and places, but you leave in the heart and truth. When it came to “Mary Poppins” P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) didn’t treat her like a character in some book, she treated her like family. There was one man who saw the magic in that kind of treatment and that was Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Disney fell in love with the character after being introduced to it by his daughters. For twenty years he chased Mrs. Travers, trying to let him bring her book to life on the big screen. Finally given the chance, Travers did everything in her power to make sure her vision of the character stayed intact and didn't become just another blink in the Disney Empire. What happens instead is Travers rediscovers who Mary Poppins really is and who she always was.

      Everyone remembers the great and powerful wizard from the “Wizard of OZ”. The question is once you saw behind the curtain, did the magic lose its luster? Every time you see a magic trick the first thing that goes through most people’s minds is “How did he do that?”  “Mary Poppins” was magic to a lot of kids growing up, first in books and then on movie screens and TV’s. Well seeing how it all came together by two great imaginations and the magic that followed, doesn't anything away. Written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith and directed by John Lee Hancock, “Saving Mr. Banks” gives you a look into the making of a classic. As good as a story the film has, the real stars are the performances by Hanks and Thompson. Hanks as Disney adds to a list of already great performances, but Thompson steals the show as Travers. The film doesn't move fast and takes it time to tell the whole story and not just the bullet points. This is a beautiful and moving at times. It has almost been sixty years since “Mary Poppins” came to the big screen and over ninety years since the first novel was written. This glimpse behind the curtain is worth the watch, and even with that peek, this is one story that can never lose its magic.

 Brian Taylor 

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

                                                                     

               In 2004 a little movie came out called “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and no one saw it. Staring Will Ferrell as a 1970’s style Newsman, who was about a smart as a rock, it was a box office failure. Then something funny happened, the movie came out on DVD and people discovered it. It was the kind of movie you would watch with friends and recite line after line with each other, in other words it became it hit. Ron Burgundy became a name most people recognized and Will Ferrell became a star. So nine years later can the magic be caught as on the first go around? Or is it destined to never live up to the original?

            Nine years is a long time for anything, and a lot has changed since 2004. Things like TV’s got thinner, cell phones have gotten better, and pretty much everyone involved with the original film became a bigger star. So what has been happening with our favorite San Diego News Team? Well Ron (Will Ferrell) and Veronica (Christina Applegate) are married and hosting a news program in New York. Everything is perfect until Veronica is offered the lead anchor position, without Ron, and Ron is fired, for being the worst newsman ever. Ron goes back to San Diego, and after a failed attempt at a job at SeaWorld, Ron is offered a job for a new kind of news network, a twenty-four hour one. Ron tracks down the old team, Brick (Steve Carell), Brian (Paul Rudd), and Champ (David Koechner), to join him at his new job. Once there Ron decides that he shouldn’t tell people what he thinks they want to hear, but instead tell them exactly what they want to hear. So no more bad news, instead his news cast is filled with puppies, car chases, and everything that is right with America. His plan is a success, and Ron climbs to the top of the news world, but being Ron, he finds a way to fall back down. So apparently we have Ron Burgundy to thank for the state of our news today.

        When the original Anchorman came out in 2004, there were no expectations. The film was written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, who were able to throw a bunch of things at the wall to see if any of them stuck. Well what looked like a failure became a gold mine, and would only help both in their future films together. What would they do with expectations? Would they try too hard to capture the magic of the first film? Well let me try and answer those questions.

The expectations did not hurt the film at all; it honors the first film by staying true to it. As for capturing the magic of the first film, that is where the film stumbles. With this film, it feels too often that they are trying, where as with the first it never felt that way. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of laughs in this film, but not nearly the kinds that will keep you coming back. With comedies it is all about repeat viewings, when you love a good comedy you want to watch it over and over. The original film had that, but with “Anchorman 2” I think one viewing is enough. With all that said, it is worth seeing, because you will get plenty of laughs out it and you will leave with a smile on your face. It is hard to live up to a classic that so many people enjoy, and all though not as good as the original, Ron Burgundy still finds a way to stay classy.

Brian Taylor